FREDERICKTOWN – One day at a time, one frame at a time. This season is about Leah Staton. It has been a little over three months since the Fredericktown bowling team received the stunning news that their teammate and friend, 17-year-old Leah, was killed in an automobile accident.
Her sudden passing has touched family, friends and the surrounding community.
The impact of the news was felt throughout the team, but most of all by her best friend Macey Neer.
“It has been definitely very hard not having her here; but when we bowl, we bowl in honor of her and her memory,” Neer explained. “When we come here to bowl, everything is for Leah. We try to make bowling a fun way to get together. It’s something that’s truly made us all happy. No matter what, Leah’s here to watch over me while I’m bowling. I know she’s always here with me.”
Neer knows just where to find her friend.
“I always warm up on lane five,” Neer said. “I don’t warm up on any other lane, because I warm up with (Leah). We bowled together on lane five. That’s why I had them hang her banner there.”
The banner with Staton’s photo wasn’t the only tribute to her. The team had a jersey made for her, along with wrist bands in her memory. But the banner is the most visible one.
“That’s going to stay up there too,” Fredericktown coach Chuck Young said. “It’s not like our senior banners. It’s not going to come down.”
Her leadership continues to be felt by the entire team.
“We usually have team captains; but instead, Leah is our honorary captain,” Neer said. “All the seniors pull together and help the juniors and sophomores. If anybody comes in new to bowling, we all pitch in.”
Staton was more than a leader in the bowling alley.
“Leah was our smile,” Young said. “She brought a happy attitude whenever she came in. She never got herself down. She tried to pick everybody up. (Leah’s teammates) remember the smiles and they keep the smiles going, and that’s what Leah brought to the team.”
That smile and her manner were a comfort to all the lives she touched.
“It really hurt because she was the most positive person on the team,” Fredericktown teammate Justin Zollars said. “She was one that you could just go to if you were feeling down, and she was always there to boost your spirits.”
Neer rolled a two-game total of 301 on Tuesday, Jan. 5, at Trio Lanes to lead all girls in the Freddies’ match against visiting and undermanned East Knox. Fredericktown defeated the Bulldogs 1,645-729 in the girls match and 1,270-309 in the boys match.
Chloe Ketron led the Bulldogs’ girls team with a 227 series; and Will Jenson led the boys team with a 381 series, topping out with a 201 in the first game.
Griffin Wayne led the Freddies’ boys team with a 370 series, Zollars rolled a 335 series and Chase Keyes had a 334 series.
